yiff

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Interjection 1.2.1 Translations 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Derived terms 1.3.2 Translations 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Translations 1.5 Usage notes 1.6 References 1.7 Anagrams 2 Middle English 2.1 Etymology 1 2.1.1 Conjunction 2.2 Etymology 2 2.2.1 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Yiff is part of a range of onomatopoeic words that form a pseudo-language used by the furry role-playing community: yiff, yip, yerf, yaff, yarf, growf, and growlf (in order from most positive connotations to most negative connotations). Yiff meant yes or an exuberant hello!. Later, yiff was assigned a meaning of a sexual proposition, a meaning that had previously been assigned to yipp (a coarse form of yip).

Other claimed etymologies include:

• onomatopoeic word for the sound of a fox mating. This etymology is unsubstantiated and appears to be apocryphal.
• sense 3 of YIFF. This is apparently a backronym.

[edit] Interjection

yiff

1. (onomatopoeia) Representing a bark (of a fox.)
2. (furry jargon, interrogative) “Anyone willing/desiring to have sex?”
3. (furry jargon, interrogative) “Are you willing/desiring to have sex?”

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to yiff (third-person singular simple present yiffs, present participle yiffing, simple past and past participle yiffed)

1. (furry jargon) To have sex, to mate.
   • 1997-10-17, StarChaser, “What to genocide”, rec.games.roguelike.nethack^[1],

     Monsters snicker at me, succubi refuse to be seen with me, my dog tries to yiff my leg, shopkeepers say ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’.

   • 1997-09-22, Locandez, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, alt.lifestyle.furry^[2],

     And even if foxes are allowed to yiff more than once, I’d still have to wait for the vixen to come into heat.

   • 1997-09-23, MegaDog the Nettweiler, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, alt.lifestyle.furry^[3],

     Well, i’ve witnessed male foxes queueing up to yiff one of my local vixens… repeatedly!

2. (slang, Internet) To have cybersex.
   • 1996-07-14, j.serdy, “RFC: A Beginner’s Guide to TinySex on the FurryMuck”, alt.fan.furry^[4],

     Of course the inverse is possible with all these possibilities, and you can be having a yiff with a partner in the room with you and be having a pleasant non-sexual conversation with another remote player through a page-conversation.

3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (slang, Internet) To talk, to chat in a chat room.

[edit] Derived terms

• yiffy
• yiffer
• yiffable

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

yiff (plural yiffs)

1. (furry jargon) Sexual intercourse, the act of yiffing.
2. (furry jargon) A bark, a “yiff”!

[edit] Translations

[edit] Usage notes

The term is not to be confused with the acronym YIFF, although a backronym has been created for that (sense 3) in an attempt to explain the etymology of yiff.

[edit] References

• "Yiff", A Furry Glossary
• Definition of "yiff", Furtopia
• LittleFox’s own explanation of the etymology of "Yiff", Everything2, accessed on 2005-03-30 (bottom of page)

[edit] Anagrams

• Alphagram: ffiy
• iffy

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[edit] Middle English

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English ġif.

[edit] Conjunction

yiff

1. if
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): John Lydgate Fall of Princes

     Yiff ther was lak, thou woldest crie & pleyne.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): John Lydgate Fall of Princes

     And yiff that trust with pryncis wil nat tarie,
     Litil merueile thouh the peeple varie…

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Geoffrey Chaucer

     […] That yiff that god that hevene and erthe made
     Wolde haue a love For beaute and goodness
     And womanhede and trouthe and semelynesse […]

[edit] Etymology 2

From Old English giefan.

[edit] Verb

yiff

1. give
   • 1393, Jean d’Arras Roman de Melusine

     Another ordre to you yiff I shall,
     A knyght will you mak of full hye degre
     As your brethren ben named ryght roiall.